Stephanie Andrea Allen combines some of my favorite literary elements: speculative fiction, science fiction, Black women’s stories, and short stories. Her work in How to Dispatch a Human: Stories and Suggestions is vibrantly written and a wonderful, cozy collection to read during these winter months. Allen’s creativity is captivating; her stories are full of vibrant details and surprising plot devices. One of the most pleasing things about these stories is that they include intersectional characters and narratives in futuristic scenarios.

Id like to thank Library Thing and BLF , for sending this book for review.
I loved this collection of Speculative Black Lesbian short stories. The characters were fun, lively and engaging. The stories are full of feelings, humor and nuance. I think the fun lively tone of these stories was fantastic and really drove the stories along.
Some of my favorites were "Hirsute"(be sure you know the consequences before plucking any silver hair) and "Sans Pareil" about a sleeping mask that finally allows a woman to sleep, after many sleepless nights, but is it worth the price?? "Catfished" opens your eyes to online hook ups, and meetings.
My most favorite was "Luna 6000", where the truth of a womens family is stranger than fiction.
These stories were a great read, and stayed with me. I thought about them long after finishing the story. I look forward to more from Stephanie Andrea Allen. ( )

I really liked almost all of the short stories in this book. I loved the way the author played with form and language. I felt like I would love to read much more of each world the author built. I'm a big speculative fiction fan, and I felt the stories were all deeply thought through and full of emotion.

I'm so glad the author created and included a glossary. I actually enjoyed it on its own. It was almost like its own story. ( )

This book is an absolute delight. I don't know if I've ever rated an ER book so highly.

This book is like if you take the best of O. Henry but make it Black and queer (and authentically so) - it's amazing. Most of the stories are speculative fiction (many robots here, some vampires), and most of them feature some sort of plot twist. Some of those twists are more effective than others, some are more obvious than others, but all of them are a delight.

I feel like the folks who complain that the stories are too open-ended are not familiar with how short stories work as a genre. Their open-ended nature is an absolute strength - each story shows you a complete glimpse into a different, fully-fleshed world, and tells you a complete story. But each one could probably be chapter one of a full-fledged novel of its own.

I especially liked how the first and last stories bookend the entire collection and are the only two that are directly related. The glossary at the end is also masterfully executed.

Simply a beautiful book. My copy is an ARC, so I'll be buying the final print version along with the author's debut collection as well. I highly recommend it. ( )

From the first story in the collection, I was hooked on Allen's style and voice. The creativity and humor on display here are fantastic, and the interplay of serious themes with everyday concerns and humor made me want to simply sit and read the collection in one sitting--certainly, they've guaranteed I'll pick up anything else she writes. Some of the speculative fiction here is so original in its wonder and speculative elements, it left me practically breathless, and I'd absolutely recommend it not only to readers of short speculative work at large, but to writers who want to blend original speculative fiction with a more contemporary aesthetic.

The one caveat I feel like I have to mention is that this collection is absolutely front-loaded. The best of the stories are in the first two-thirds of the work, with the last few stories in the collection feeling a bit less polished and fully developed than earlier works in the collection. The ideas were still there, but the characters weren't quite so alive. Because of that front-loaded nature, I felt a bit let down with the last portion of the book, but at the same time, Allen set such a high bar for herself with the early stories, that 'let-down' is very much relative to the quality of the book. This is still, without doubt, a 4.5* read for me that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend, especially for readers who like short stories with a flare for humor. ( )